ZWO ASI120MC is crashing my BYEOS Premium

[maximus]

Hello 

 

I am looking for some help/support or otherwise to overcome a problem with BYEOS and my ZWO cam. 

 

I am currently running windows 10 which was a recent upgrade and have just purchased a ZWO ASI120MC

 

When i run BYEOS and connect to my Canon X4 then run PHD2.5 with my QHY5LIIM everybody is happy. It doesn't matter which way I start the sequence of operations i.e, PHD2.5 then BYEOS or EQASCOM then BYEOS then PHD2.5 which ever way, it all seems happy and everybody plays well together. 

 

When i do the same with the ZWO ASI120MC as a guide camera BYEO will start an operation, say frame and focus - the image will come up on the screen then it just hangs. 

 

the strange thing is, if i try the ZWO in sharpCap 2.6 the same thing will happen in BYEOS

 

Now, it doesn't matter which way I try it, I get the same problems. BYEOS starts an operation then just hangs when the ZWO is plugged in. 

 

Has anybody experienced this? Any suggestions or ideas ? 

 

Cheers 

 

Max

[astroman133]

This quote was taken from the ZWO web site product page for the ASI120 --

• Full resolution function of the ASI120 requires full 480mbs USB communication!

 

It seems likely that available bandwidth of USB is being hogged by the ZWO. You could reduce the resolution from the ZWO, and/or increase the exposure.

 

You could also try cabling differently. Try new cables/ shorter cables/plug to different USB ports on the PC. Or try with a different PC, fast.

 

Tell the group about the specs of your laptop and how you have the devices connected to the PC, and how often PHD is downloading an image.

[dts350z]

Also in PHD2 if your camera supports it you could try "use subframes":

 

• 'Use subframes' - For cameras that support this feature, PHD2 will download only a subframe of each guide exposure. This is very useful for cameras with slow download times and can mean the difference between the camera being too slow to effectively guide and being quite responsive. When this feature is enabled, only a small subframe (100x100 pixels) will be downloaded once a star is selected. This feature applies to both calibration and guiding.  During initial looping without a selected star, the full frame is downloaded, but once a star is selected, only this small subframe is downloaded.   If you are using subframes but want to see the full frame to select a different star, just click anywhere outside the subframe.

   

   

[maximus]

Thanks I hadn't considered that, I did try in other resolutions but I'll have another look.

 

So at the moment my laptop is the device that i am running it all off because I need it to be portable. It's an old girl though. But has been fine thus far...Well up till the ZWO shenanigans. 

 

OS Name Microsoft Windows 10 Home

Version 10.0.10240 Build 10240

Other OS Description Not Available

OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation

System Manufacturer SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.

System Model R730

System Type x64-based PC

System SKU

Processor Intel® Pentium® CPU        P6100  @ 2.00GHz, 1999 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)

BIOS Version/Date Phoenix Technologies Ltd. 08JV.M029.20100621.hkk, 6/21/2010

SMBIOS Version 2.6

Embedded Controller Version 255.255

BIOS Mode Legacy

BaseBoard Manufacturer SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.

Platform Role Mobile

Secure Boot State Unsupported

PCR7 Configuration Binding Not Possible

Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS

System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32

Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume2

Locale United States

Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "10.0.10240.16392"

Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 8.00 GB

Total Physical Memory 7.80 GB

Available Physical Memory 5.16 GB

Total Virtual Memory 15.8 GB

Available Virtual Memory 12.5 GB

Page File Space 8.00 GB

Page File C:\pagefile.sys

Hyper-V - VM Monitor Mode Extensions No

Hyper-V - Second Level Address Translation Extensions No

Hyper-V - Virtualization Enabled in Firmware No

Hyper-V - Data Execution Protection Yes

 

USB 2 ports 

Intel® 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller - 3B34 PCI\VEN

Intel® 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller - 3B3C PCI\VEN

 And 1 USB 1 port

 

It says PROBLEM DEVICES Below is listed

Wireless Gamepad F710 USB\VID_046D&PID_C21F\E5AC949F The drivers for this device are not installed....Strange because it works fine and the drivers seemed to install, I'll have to check that. However doesn't affect the above problem and like i say works fine.

 

NOW, this could be part of the problem the ZWO is running full resolution as is the QHY BUT, I have a 10 port powered USB hub plugged in to one USB 2 port of which three ports are used, BYEOS, QHY or ZWO and a game pad. I have EQMOD connected directly to the other USB 2 port. and a wifi mouse in the slower port. I have tried different positions and various configurations. However the same with the QHY and no problems.

 

The Canon and guide cam cable are 3M, the EQDir cable is 2M. 

 

The ZWO has two profiles because I tried different combos. 

 

Prof 1

Windows WDM style web cam / ASI 120 MC camera ZWO design/ Max res at 1280 x 960 RGB24 ( have tried different resolutions) 

Prof 2 

ASI cameras ASCOM drivers. 

 

Works with both and guides with both just BYEOS won't work when it's running in either profile.

 

Is there a log file that records errors in BYEOS? 

 

Cheers 

 

Max

 

[astroman133]

Guylain logs quite a bit of information.  Look for the location of the BackyardTEMP folder on the Image Capture Settings.  The log files will be in a Logs subfolder.

 

Yes, you computer is quite old (for a PC). I am surprised that you were able to upgrade it to Windows 10.

 

You might try connecting the ZWO directly to one of USB 2.0 ports on the PC. This would mean moving the mount connection to your powered hub.

[admin]

The issue is USB related.  It is simply overloaded with data.  I'm 99.9% positive this is the issue.  You need to make sure both the ZWO and the DSLR are connected on different computer USB port / internal USB bus.  Typically if you have 2 USB ports on opposite side of the computer/laptop they are on separate internal USB bus.

[maximus]

Guylain logs quite a bit of information.  Look for the location of the BackyardTEMP folder on the Image Capture Settings.  The log files will be in a Logs subfolder.

 

Yes, you computer is quite old (for a PC). I am surprised that you were able to upgrade it to Windows 10.

 

You might try connecting the ZWO directly to one of USB 2.0 ports on the PC. This would mean moving the mount connection to your powered hub.

Okay, cheers I'll look 

 

Yes it is, but up till now it has been fine and worked with no problems. 

 

Tried that. 

[maximus]

The issue is USB related.  It is simply overloaded with data.  I'm 99.9% positive this is the issue.  You need to make sure both the ZWO and the DSLR are connected on different computer USB port / internal USB bus.  Typically if you have 2 USB ports on opposite side of the computer/laptop they are on separate internal USB bus.

 

Okay thanks for the info, I'll investigate further and see what happens. 

[admin]

USB cable also deteriorate over time.  This could be part of the issue.

[maximus]

USB cable also deteriorate over time.  This could be part of the issue.

 

Thanks, fortunately mine are all new, well not quite new but certainly less than 6 months.